Cave-trolls

The Cave-trolls are groups of horrible, unintelligent creatures. They served the forces of evil through the various parts of Tolkien’s work. They lived in the caves of the Misty Mountains. Frodo and his companions encountered trolls in the Chamber of Khazad-Dum Records while in Moria.

Trolls are powerful giant creatures that are flat-footed, and toeless with a scaly skin of dark green color. Cave trolls have nostrils positioned so high up the space between their eyes that their nose would look like one more eye. They only get stunned for a while if struck and weapons seem useless against them. Trolls have black blood if they get pierced. One troll could cause so much trouble that they rarely appear in scenes of film adaptations.

In the first part of Peter Jackson’s LOTR Trilogy, The Hobbits, Gandalf, and the rest of the Fellowship [1] fought a troll and group of orcs. While the orc group ravaged, the troll, the only one, was the most dangerous by far. The Troll first took interest in Gimli who tried to fight it but failed. Then others joined, taking turns to strike it, but it was until Legolas used his archery skills that he fell dead. The skilled archer struck his arrow into the thick skull of the troll, the arrow went down the back of its skull and it fell on its face, dead. Randall W. Cook, the American Special Effect Artist, was the troll in the film. The troll’s action was an advanced animation of the Artist’s movement captured in motion pictures.

Ralph Bakshi portrayed trolls in his animation movie of the LOTR, although it didn’t play any major part. The use of troll didn't exceed the battle in Moria. After the fellowship of the ring reached the tomb of Balin in the Chamber of Records, they found a book, and Gandalf began to read through it. They heard a strange sound and soon realized it was the orcs coming. Boromir rushed to the east gate to close it, but Gandalf told him to leave it to him to cast a spell at the gate. Gandalf got to the door but ran back to hid from the strikes of the advancing orcs and “something else”, the cave troll. When Gandalf realized his spell would not work, he told Boromir to shut the gate, which he did. The giant troll tried to force its way into the chamber before Frodo stung its leg and it retreated.

The cave-trolls appeared in the game set. The game featured three giant cave trolls that have the ability to wield any of three large weapons. The players can choose one of the different preset weapon options. A troll wielding a hammer raised, troll wielding a hammer and chain, or troll that wields a spear. Game Workshop also featured cave trolls in The Mine of Moria game set.

In the EA adaption of trolls for their LOTR game, The Battle for Middle-earth. [2] BME, trolls have a different color that is alien to the original book from Tolkien or all popular representations that preceded the game. The trolls do not have a dark green scaly skin, but rather, they have brown colored skin. In the EA game, trolls troop from caves, and the design is they don't take any side of the two fighting forces, they attack all non-trolls they find on the scene. Trolls were also depicted to have an affinity for hoarding gold. Like the Hobbit film presented the dragon creature Smaug, and the trolls. When you desolate the cave area, you will find a stack of gold that they hoard. In The LOTR: BME II, the game designers returned to the popular green scaly skin as depicted for trolls in film and Tolkien’s work.

The trolls throw rocks which are instrumental for taking down heavily fortified fortresses. The goblins train trolls from a crevice as a unit when they beleaguer. Another interesting thing the trolls do in the game (including the trolls of Mordor) is that they can use their powerful strength to fell trees. Trolls then use the trees in their attacks as big clubs which can increase the extent of the damage they inflict on any opponent. The game designers, however, did something to prevent the players from abusing this powerful ability. The player can only use the tree and cannot use other weapons any longer until the troll dies.

So, felling a tree and using it as a club means there will be no more throwing of stones, goblins, or orcs. The trolls of Mordor, the mountain trolls, are different from the other types of trolls. Mountain trolls eat orcs to boost their health and don’t throw. They can also stay outside the dark without becoming stones. The video game company, EA, also have trolls in their LOTR: Conquest. In the game, trolls had leather helmets and only served by loading catapults in the setting of the Battle of Pelennor Fields.

1. ^The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).
2. ^The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth™.